Roma deal hammer blow to Inter title hopes with victory at San Siro
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MILAN: Inter Milan’s Serie A title hopes took a massive blow when the defending champions suffered a 1-0 home loss to AS Roma on Sunday, giving Napoli the chance to open up a three-point gap at the top when they host Torino.
The hosts, who bowed out of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday with a 3-0 semi-final second leg defeat by AC Milan, suffered their third loss in a week as their treble-bid risks coming apart at the seams.
Inter, who need to recover before Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at Barcelona, are second in the standings with 71 points while Roma move up to fifth place on 60 points.
“Three defeats in one week hurts, and we’re not used to such a run,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi. “It was a very important game, but we lacked a clear head. We need to try and get our energy back, and we’ll go to Barcelona with a lot of respect for this team, but without fear.”
Roma took the lead in the 22nd minute when Lorenzo Pellegrini’s effort from outside the box was blocked down in the area but the ball ended up at the feet of Matias Soule who netted from the edge of the six-yard box.
Inter pushed hard in the second half, desperately seeking an equaliser but lacked any real cutting edge close to goal.
Calhanoglu drilled just wide from distance, Denzel Dumfries had a header at the back post saved by Svilar and Nicolo Barella fired wide from the edge of the six-yard box.
Roma, having soaked up the Inter pressure, had chances to double their lead, but Niccolo Pisilli hit his first time shot wide of the post when unmarked in the box and Artem Dovbyk had an effort saved by Yann Sommer.
In another blow for Inter, they risk being without defender Benjamin Pavard for their match against Barcelona after the French international limped off in the 15th minute with an ankle issue.
Earlier on Sunday, AC Milan rebounded from their defeat by Atalanta last weekend with a 2-0 win over Venezia.
Christian Pulisic opened the scoring for Milan in the fifth minute with Santiago Gimenez sealing the victory in the fifth minute of added time at the end of the game.
Milan, remain in ninth place while Venezia stay third from bottom in the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, goals from Yacine Adli and Rolando Mandragora helped Fiorentina keep their Champions League qualification hopes alive with a 2-1 victory against struggling Empoli.
The defeat left Empoli in 19th place while Fiorentina sit in eighth place on 59 points, five ahead of Milan.
In Sunday’s late match, 10-man Juventus moved into the Champions League qualification spots with a 2-0 win against basement-side Monza.
Early strikes by Nico Gonzales and Randal Kolo Muani gave Juve the lead but their clinical first half was marred when Kenan Yildiz was shown red in stoppage time after a VAR review for striking Alessandro Bianco with his elbow.
But, Monza failed to make the most of their numerical advantage as Juve hung on.
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2025
